Shall start this post with a photo of me with my fresh seafood dinner! Teehee.
Departing Pisa, we arrived at La Spezia, commonly associated with Cinque Terre (The Five Villages). We decided to stay in La Spezia instead of one of the five due to it being cheaper and for easy accessibility, since we were only here for two nights. Approaching the end of our month-long trip, we assessed our remaining finances and decided we could afford a nice dinner. Haha. We found Osteria Della Corte (ranked number 7 in La Spezia on tripadvisor) that was located within walking distance from our airbnb. Due to mostly positive reviews, we decided to pay it a visit!
We ordered the scampi pasta to share, which they so nicely separated into two portions for us. This was really "yi kou mian" but the handmade pasta (not sure what's the ingredient that caused it to be reddish in color) was excellent!!! I appreciate that the pasta was unique and yummy.
Beef steak (also portioned in half).
Fresh cold seafood platter! I don't recall the exact review we had on this restaurant, but I do remember us thoroughly enjoying dinner that night. (:
The next morning, we bought the Cinque Terre train pass at the train station. The pass gains you many things including transport between the 5 towns and also access to the walking trails.
Before embarking on the route that you wanna take, it's best to check which hiking trails are open (they are prone to closures for maintenance or bad weather) and plan from there. But I figure you could just plan on the day itself at the visitor office at the La Spezia train station. For us, the only route hugging the sea that was open was between Monterosso and Vernazza (~2 hours). If you have more time, you can opt for the longer and more challenging routes. They have plenty, not just the ones that join the towns. The trails also put you at the vantage point to see the towns!
We decided to head to the furthest via the express train - Monterosso al Mare! I also read that the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza is more scenic, in terms of the direction you are facing during the hike. Or else, you would have to keep turning back to look at the view behind you.
Monterosso has the largest beach out of all, and boasts the greatest number of homes (which makes it a popular place for tourists to choose their lodging at).
At the beginning of the trek to Vernazza!
It is sooo amazing how clear the water is!! Throughout the trek we kept stopping to take pictures because you are rewarded with gorgeous views every few steps!
Can't help but watch the waves froth up as they crash upon the rocks.
Whether it is amazing sea views, or green landscapes, you'll never be bored. And the views do help in motivating you to press forward. This trek is not mainly flat ground, there is a lot of narrow winding paths, and rocky steps that go up for days, and then down again. But I guess it's pretty doable, I survived it in my 3 pounds sneakers from Primark! Haha.
These lucky residents enjoy amazing views everyday!
Some of the views you will see on the way!
And after 1 hour plus we see a glimpse of Vernazza! Check out how high up we are :/
So tired, and Joel will just laugh at my tired face while snapping candid shots (which I will not share here lol).
The very famous view of Vernazza that you will see all over Instagram. This picture is unedited so you can see that even IRL it is really beautiful.
If you face away from Vernazza this is where we came from! You can see the train tracks that join all the towns together.
Took the train next to Manarola.
Vernazza and Manarola look similar, but if you look closely they have different features!
You have to follow the trail towards Vernazza for a few hundred metres to get to this view.
After half of day of visiting the first 3 towns we decided to stop for some dinner at an al fresco restaurant facing the sea. Forgot to take more pictures so this pic of our seafood risotto will suffice!
After dinner, the clouds cleared up a little and the sky became more cooperative for pictures!
Always need a sweet treat to end off a meal ;P
Next up, we headed to Riomaggiore.
From the train station, you have to cut through the town and downwards to get to sea level.
People happily sunbathing on the rocks!
Now standing on the rocks you would be able to get this gorgeous shot. Love how all the towns hold the Cinque Terre character - colored buildings that hug the natural formation of the cliffs and valley they are built on. Yet each town has their own uniqueness!
Sat here for a while to enjoy the view.
That's all for Cinque Terre. We left Corniglia for the last, because you have to hike a bit to get good views and we didn't know if we would have time for that. In the end due to a mixture of tiredness/laziness and time constraint we decided to skip it. Well, we managed to cover most of Cinque Terre, especially the more photo-worthy ones. (:
Last but not least, our final destination for this trip coming up next - Rome!
To be continued.
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